Fabulous furniture bundle donated to Oxfordshire specialist school by generous Midlands firm
The Unicorn School in Oxfordshire provides specialist education for pupils aged 7–16 years who have a variety of specific learning differences. It is a small, nurturing school with 108 pupils and 10–12 pupils per class. The Unicorn School’s teachers are specialists in working with dyslexia and related difficulties, and the school works hard to build a positive, nurturing environment in which every child is helped to build self-confidence. Following an office clearout by the Convergence Group, the school was recently thrilled to receive a generous bundle of high-quality furniture via A Good Thing.
Perfect for a new college
Tamora Burford, Development Manager at The Unicorn School, was delighted when she spotted the items being listed via the A Good Thing platform: 11 cabinets, one chest of drawers, 18 desks, four high desks, two round tables and a subbuteo football table!
The Unicorn School is in the process of establishing a brand-new college to support young autistic people aged 16–19, and Tamora knew straightaway this furniture would be perfect:
“The furniture is here now, we’re just waiting to put it all in place. A colleague hired a van and collected it all. It was amazing!”
The whole process was very easy, from Tamora’s point of view:
“The collection was very smooth, and the Convergence Group was fantastic. They were very responsive: we just had two or three emails back and forth, then it was all set up. On collection day we pulled up, loaded up the items, and took them away!”
New beginnings for young people
The Unicorn School is excited about being able to extend its provision with the new college, as Tamora explains:
“We’d been receiving enquiries from parents with children with autism, and now we’ll be offering this provision on a new site. We’ll be focusing on really getting young people work-ready.”
Tamora loved using A Good Thing, and can really see the value in it:
“I get excited every time an email lands from A Good Thing with a new offer. It’s been fantastic. We’d love to receive more donations of furniture further down the line. We need all sorts of things: things for our staff space like desks, chairs and tables… even bins!”
Donating to someone who actually wants it
Damon Arkell, Head of IT and Development at the Convergence Group in Solihull, telecoms provider for businesses, health authorities and retailers, was equally pleased with the whole experience:
“Our firm had made some acquisitions in Reading and Oxford, and there was a need to rehome various things from those locations. It was an “everything must go” situation.”
We talked to Damon about what would have happened to the furniture if the firm had not been able to find a good home for it:
“We would have paid money for it to go to landfill. Furniture collection services can charge a big fee, and you have no control over what happens to it next: often the items just end up being destroyed. It’s a great shame when this happens. It’s so great when things can go to someone who actually wants them.”
Doing A Good Thing… and doing the right thing
The Convergence Group cares about its impact, and tries to take care when it has to dispose of things, as Damon explains:
“We hold the ISO 14001 environmental standard, and it’s important to do things in the right way. It’s great for our credentials to be involved with reuse. It’s also good for the culture within the business: people like to know they’re making a difference.”
Damon told us that there’s a real commitment within the Convergence Group to being part of the community:
“People bend over backwards to do things for local charities. The whole business supports this philosophy too, they’re really behind it.”
It works for both parties!
Damon talked to us about his decision to use the A Good Thing platform, and was also honest about the other options he had in front of him:
“It would have been easier to get rid of it all in one fell swoop, but we wanted to make sure it all ended up in a good place. I had to go back and forth between Solihull and Oxford a few times, making sure it all happened properly, but I would definitely consider using A Good Thing again. I know we have things here that we’ll never use again, for example an interactive board.”
Time and again we hear from businesses that resources are stretched and there is just no time to trawl around, searching for charities to donate things to. A Good Thing just makes that whole process so easy. Damon agrees:
“Businesses are busy: it’s hard to justify spending the time to find people to donate things to. I initially tried to give some of these things away to local schools, but it was the summer holidays and it was hard to get through. I realised I was wasting time, it just took too long.”
Using A Good Thing was a good experience for the Convergence Group, as Damon recalls:
“I took a few pictures, uploaded them and it was done! It’s easy: it takes five minutes, you write a quick description, then forget about it for a bit. It works for both parties! It saved our business some money, and the charity got some really good pieces of furniture as well – they would have cost them thousands. The app can do no wrong!”
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